Qi气
qì
Vital energy that permeates the world and living beings; the raw fuel that cultivators absorb, refine, and weaponize.
Qi (also romanized chi or ki) comes from Chinese medicine, martial arts, and Daoist philosophy, where it names the breath-energy of life. Fiction concretizes it: qi becomes a measurable resource with purity grades, elemental flavors, and density that varies by region, which is why cultivators fight over blessed lands and why mortal-world qi is often too "thin" for high-level practice.
In donghua you will meet many house variants: spiritual energy, spirit power in Soul Land, dou qi in Battle Through the Heavens, or origin energy in sci-fi hybrids like Swallowed Star. Whatever the label, the mechanics rhyme: draw it in, store it in the dantian, circulate it through meridians, and release it as technique.